Pietro

Hi Ramon, I have seen the VhS. Is this the same on a different format? Cheers, Pietro

Hi, I am here to pickup chicks. Bye, Pietro

(underlines are mine) It is important that the moderators do not act out of the subjective feelings of the person being insulted, but out of the objectivity of what has happened. If we decide that name calling is an offense and someone should get banished for name-calling another person this should happen regardless of how does the person called feel. If I call someone an asshole I should be banned, even if the person does not feel offended by my action. On the other hand if I say something that is generally accepted and a person feel so offended... well, that is their problem. Applying the law in any other way opens up the door to subjectivity in judgment and people playing the victim cards. Two things that you do not want. So, if the fact that someone complained caused a person to be banned that would be wrong. Of course the moderators cannot be everywhere so the person can bring their attention to a post that would otherwise be missed. But complaining or cheerleading for someone to be banned should have no weight over their decision. Late Edit: someone->something

Balance Spontaneity Compassion (which we call Everything Furthers) Nature Emptiness

No one said not to copy from copyrighted content. Just say the source so people who are interested can go deeper into that. I read this somewhere.

Funny, for me I had the opposite. I was circumcised because I had an infection (or a risk of?) You mean uncircumcised guys feel like they are having sex with a girl when they use a condom? Wow! That's all I can say. Now that would explain a lot. I wonder if there is any statistical correlation between condom use and circumcision.

sure, hack the system so we can have hundreds of possibilities, and many more questions too, and I will add them ;-)

What are your favorite movies (or tv series)? What movies have really inspired you to practice? Which movies inspired you to start and which inspired you to go deeper, and go back to the mat? Thanks for all the input :-)

Taoist breathing, as taught by Bruce Frantzis, is different from other forms of breathing. For example in yogic breathing there is a pause between the in-breath and the out-breath. In taoist breathing there is no pause whatsoever. This then helps with the meditative practice for various technical reasons. So by setting up the breath in this way you are setting up the stage to be more successful at taoist meditation downstream. It might be different if you were to do another form of meditation (like kundalini). Which is why you need to be a bit aware when you mix together elements from different traditions, or when you learn from someone who does not know the fullness of a tradition. In both cases you might discover extraneous elements that might not play nicely with other elements you have. Suppose you are going by sea, you want the sail, and the vessel. But although you can pretty much use any sail on any vessel, some combination work better than other. Some actions (like going at an angle, upwind) are only possible with some combinations of sails and vessel. And so on. Of course if you just observe the breathing, this will deepen, but it does not always reach the fullness of having a full body breathing. That's a "maybe". Also it might take much longer. Whereas if you know what to look for, the time to reach the same stage might be much much shorter. Also if you are aware of what stages you should go through, you can monitor that everything happens in the correct way. You might have energy stuck somewhere and not be aware of it. Do you know what a blind spot is? It is a part of our vision where we do not see, but because we do not see it, we are also not aware that there is a problem. It is natural, and I think necessary, as it reflects the point in the eye bulb where the nerve is, so you cannot perceive. But we have those blind spots in our energetic system too. Dead spots, places where we don't feel. Usually problems we don't even perceive as problems. As you correctly implied with your observation, often just bringing your awareness in your body can help you find, and reawaken and revitalize those places. But it is not always so. Which is why self awareness does not always fully work. Not for everybody. You mention the word effortlessly. I want to thank you for that. It is indeed important in this breathing practice that breath is done without strain. If on the one side you try to relax your nervous system, and on the other you make action that result in tensing it up, you are obviously going to reach much less, at the end of the day. But between doing things strenuously, putting a small effort, and only observing there are differences. In the water method practices are always done following the 70% rule. Which means you do not do more than 70% of what you would be able to do, both in the in-breath and in the out-breath. This means that once you cut off 30% of your breathing range in one direction, and 30% on the other, you are only moving in the middle 40%. It is really quite effortlessly. If it is not that effortlessly you would not be able to integrate this breathing with your life. And finally there is the topic of health. Full body breathing is also good because it provides a massage to the internal organs of the body. In particular by breathing on the back of the heart but not on the front of the chest you are giving a massage to the heart. As heart attack are the number one cause of death in the west, you might imagine that doing something that might prevent them is a big deal. Just letting the body deepen its breathing by observing it will not generally result in a breathing pattern that affects so specifically the internal organs in general and the heart in particular. I hope to have answered your question, Pietro

Hi Craig, I do sometimes worry, if someone were to silently sneak on me while I was practicing with the iPod and turn it off, would I die waiting for the next breath ;-). The question is not merely academic. Yesterday I was running a playlist and it was set to random order. I only realized it after :-). But I kept wondering why time was speeding up and then slowing down. :-D. Thinking I must be really going through a breakthrough lol

So, so far we have: Dexter Jet Li's Fearless Bruce Lee movies in general Kung-Fu with David Carradine (this seem to have inspired many) Dragon Ball DBZ (which I gather is a re-mastery of Dragon Ball) Star Wars Avatar: The Last Airbender Buffy Waking Life (Arrested Development) In parenthesis as it was appreciated but not found inspirational. The boy in the Striped Pijamas Naruto Gattaca Lord of the Rings A Man for All Seasons Braveheart Elizabeth Kiss of the Dragon (Jet Li at his best) Lion King (one of my favorites) Kung Fu Panda (a very Taoist movie) Samurai Champloo (very good series) Schindlers List Captain Picard from Star Trek The Next Generation Music and Life from Alan Watts. I will add to those A Razors Edge from 1946, not because it inspired me but because it inspired a Taoist Master you all know ;-). While for me I was inspired also from Kung Fu with Carradine. But more recently also from Hikaru No Go Anything else?

Hi Jetsun, which CD do you refer to? Because there is a CD on inner dissolving, which as you say just concentrate on that, but there is also a CD on breathing which does not touch inner dissolving at all. Agreed that things are better, easier, more securely done when in the correct sequence from the easiest to the hardest. Once the easier are mastered then next ones in lines have by now become easier.

thumbs up. you forgot longer ;-)

I agree, the CD instructions are great (the best), but the timing is all wrong. Eventually we all started working with a set of sounds, that gives a bell every n seconds. The complete set starts from 3 seconds, and we have it to about 30 seconds. And we have a different file for each 1/10th of a second. So we have 10 files between 3 seconds and 4 seconds, and so on. The files are made in such a way that if you hear them in a loop you do not feel when a file has ended and the next started. And with 3 breaths at each speed. So the 10 seconds breath file lasts (10*2)*3=1 minute. So now I practice starting with whatever speed I feel confortable with and I slowly let it slow down. using the fact that the ipod plays the files in name order, so 3.3 comes before 3.4 This permits my nervous system to slowly calm down. I don't think the files are available anywhere, nor can I give them to you because I was given them to me as a personal favor, and the person that made them was considering selling them. But I am sure you can organise a similar system. Pietro

You can do outer dissolving in many other positions, although each position has its specific effects. Bruce is opening up what the effect of the various positions are veeeery slowly. But there is a course in the USA about the effect of the 8 postures of Yi Chuan. Why would you do inner dissolving in any position other than sitting? Inner dissolving is usually done sitting. Any other position cause distraction which makes it harder to go in the depth of your mind. You can do it, but you are making things harder for yourself.

You want to end that you are able to breath SIMULTANEOUSLY in all those places (don't forget the shoulders, solar plexus-upper belly, lower belly). But when you start you need to work one part of the body at a time, and practice adding that before adding the next one. So belly belly & lower belly belly & lower belly SIMULTANEOUSLY belly, upper belly & lower belly belly, upper belly & lower belly SIMULTANEOUSLY belly, upper belly & lower belly& lower back belly, upper belly & lower belly& lower back simultaneously ... ... belly, upper belly & lower belly& lower back, sides, middle and upper back, shoulders, belly, upper belly & lower belly& lower back, sides, middle and upper back, shoulders simultaneously. Hope it helps, Pietro

No kids ever wanted is not there because if you don't want something we don't care. There are infinite things that you don't have and you don't want. What is important is what you do not have and are a cause of pain, or that you do have and are a pain as well. I think you can delete your vote, and then vote again. There is an option for "bisexual mostly straight" which I think is what approaches more to the straight but open. Also, I don't think I can change anymore once people have started voting. Thanks for participating :-)

The "if you could have it your way" is a way to say that the question should be taken away from the here and now, from the secular to the sacred. So the question is somehow about your nature. The wuxing designation come from something Bruce told us in Crete. Feel free to disregard them. Still this question is about your nature (as much as you can feel it). That does not change that much in a lifetime, although you might discover new layers as time goes by. The situation in life can change, but the internal nature of a person does not change that much. Aso it is not related here with what kind of tradition you are following. We are speaking about relationships. But you are right that it should be possible to have multiple situations, but then you would have to define how much of each. And it either needed sliding bars or many many more situations. I mean hundreds of more. I could have added the couples, but those are 10, and then you still need to define which is stronger. And then why not the triplets, other 10, again you need then to say which is the dominant factor. So just go for the dominant element in your relationship life

You know we are made in layers, like an onion. Now you don't feel lack, then you cross into a deeper layer, and maybe feel the lack, and then you find a way to balance that, and you are back into not feeling the lack. Also I suppose it makes a huge difference when a person is voting, after meditation, or before. After a party or before a meeting, and so on. Luckily you can delete your vote, and hopefully revote. So if suddenly you realise all your life you were missing sex orgasmic affection with an alien you still can revote. :-)

He did not say that he needed 3 years to become an immortal, but 3 years to complete the training. Completing a training means that you know what to do. Then you need to do it, and it might take more than a lifetime. But once you have completed the training you can also pass it on. I know this does not answer fully your question. That would have taken too much time. But it was a needed clarification, not to let confusion arise downstream

I just had a chat with my teacher (also a student of Bruce but from longer, as well as a Tai Chi man from another lineage), he recognized this: as the most interesting question. I would concur that it is very interesting. And I hope it gets asked.

Hmm, the whole point of the teachings that Bruce is giving is not to copy the position from the outside, but to know what you should do with the energy, the ligaments, the muscles, the awareness, the glands & organs and then let the position come out of that. The external position might not be as pretty, but it is effective, and that is what is important. In another workshop we were even told that telling to someone that his tai ji form is beautiful can sound like an insult in China. Something similar to you telling to a carpenter that his hammer is beautiful, or to a car racer that his car is pretty. At the workshop in Rome recently we were given instructions on how to start moving the hand while circle walking. I can't share it because I haven't practiced it enough. But I know that it will all be in the Bagua mastery program. Of course it is only worth paying for it if you intend to actually practice it.

The Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies is running a poll: Can science and religion coexist peacefully? Please considering voting. Today is the last day.

Hi. That's a big question. Why don't you make it more general ("Goals in Taoisms", or "Achievements in Taoism", "Official Recognitions in Taoism", ...) and open a new thread on it. Even if you are only interested in the answer from the tradition I follow you still should open up a new thread: ("... in the Water method tradition of Taoism"). That way it will get the attention it deserves, and you will get a wider range of experiences. Late Edit: grammar